Posting letters

It is hard to avoid the impact of the strike. While rival operators exist — such as Business Post and TNT Post — they deal mainly with corporate mail and still rely on Royal Mail for final delivery to the door.

Post offices will still receive mail and consumers can continue to post letters but they will obviously face long delays, dependent on the length of any strike.

Special Delivery

Royal Mail says this paid-for service for letters and parcels will be maintained if a national strike goes ahead.

It costs from £10.85 for items up to 100g for delivery guaranteed by 9am the next day, or from £4.95 for delivery by 1pm. A full refund is promised if the delivery time is missed. The service covers 98 per cent of the UK.

Posting parcels

Post office counters will remain open and consumers who specify the use of the Parcelforce service should be able to send their packages as normal, as this division has a separate delivery and sorting system.

More information

Royal Mail offers a consumer helpline on 08457 740 740 and regularly updates information about the current strikes on its website at www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates

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